Marching Season
by FinalCross
Summary: When Riku is dragged to see the drumline shows he's drawn to a particular blue eyed boy's show. One-shot. RikuxSora.


**A/N:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts or its' characters. "Marching Season" is the name of a gorgeous song by Yanni, that he owns, not me. I do however own a copy of the vibraphone sheet music to the drumline arrangement by Chris Crockerell.

I hope I did alright. I'm not at all familiar with how hosting a drumline competition works, but I was a runner for field show, so I based that part on my experience of that. There are lots of percussion terms, sorry for the majority of you who don't know a lick about drumline, but for the most part, you can just Google them.

I also highly suggest you listen to the songs I based the shows on... Really, only the songs for Sora's show, "Marching Season" and "Hypernova" are worth it, since they're amazing, but the songs for Riku's show are alright. They'll be posted at the bottom.

I'll shut up now…

* * *

Marching Season

I don't even know why I'm here. It's not as if I have to help out until awards tonight anyway. Which is like a good millennia away.

"Oh, Axel needs help with the booth," Namine, my friend who insistently called and texted me till I dragged myself out of bed so she wouldn't sit alone watching these God awful shows, says as she texts back a reply telling our friend Axel she'll "be right there."

"Yeah, yeah, just hurry up. Just because you didn't want to be left here alone doesn't mean I don't either," I bite back.

"Don't worry, I'll be back as soon as I can," she assures me and with a giggle she bounds down the bleachers and heads to the door leading out of the gym.

I let out a sigh, wishing I could be back in my nice warm bed, with silence, and not a bunch of crappy musicians.

Every year, my school hosts the championships for winter percussion, and every year it sucks. There's another school, a couple towns away, that always has all the good shows, while we're stuck with all the low class ones. There are some, once it actually gets past all the baby percussion groups, that are pretty good, but none that draw you in; none that suck you into the show and leave you wanting more.

I groan, leaning back on the bleachers behind me. Why do we have to be the sucky, poor school?

I feel my phone vibrate and I fetch my phone from my pocket. I see there's a text from Namine and I pull it up to read it.

"_Riku, can you be the runner for the judges for a bit? Roxas twisted his ankle."_

What luck.

"Why me? Isn't there someone else?" I text back.

"_Well, Demyx is coming, but he's having trouble with his car. Plus, you're the only person here that's not working!"_

"Fine! I'll do it. Where do I go?"

"_Yay! Hehe. I'll bring you the cards and fill you in then. Thanks Ri:)"_

I better be getting paid or something for this….

As soon as the group on the floor ends their show, the doors for spectators open and Namine is the first person in. I get up from my seat and make my way towards her, almost falling over the bleachers on the way.

"All you have to do is take the cards and papers to all the judges and then just give them to Zexion," Namine says as she hands me a plastic bag of SD cards with one hand and points behind her with her other hand. I look to see what she's pointing at when I see that Zexion is behind her, with his nose buried in a book. _Does he ever just those damn things down?_

"Why isn't he just doing the job if he's going to be a half-ass runner?" I inquire. Seriously, if he's going to be taking the things to wherever, then couldn't he just take them from the judges himself?

"Well, they were complaining that Roxas was taking too long to go back and forth so Zexion will take them to the room while you sit here waiting for the shows to be done so you can give the stuff to him," Namine explains to me while tilting her head to the side. "Wouldn't you rather that than actually having to do some labor?"

Yeah, I guess she got me there.

"Fine, fine," I shake my hand at her, turn around towards the other side of the gym's bleachers, and make my way up to the judge's table.

It's a rather easy job, and I'm glad I have Zexion to take the actual "runner" part of the job. I definitely have the easy half as I get to sit and watch the shows still, while he traverses across campus to wherever the hell he takes the stuff.

I should have just ignored Namine's pleas and stayed home. There's still a few hours till we perform and then awards, after colour guard is done, which always takes longer. Always.

The upside to doing this, is I get to see the front of the shows, instead of the backs. I think it's only fair if the hosts get to sit on whatever side they choose, but hell, they just don't want a bunch of kids anywhere near the adults.

As the current show ends and they start to get off the mat, I get up for the umpteenth time for the judge's table at the top of the bleachers. From all this hopping up and down the steps, my legs are starting to get tired. If my legs are too sore in the morning for me to get up, it's Namine's head.

I make my way to the floor judge and have to wait for him to scribble down the rest of his score, then head over to the door to meet Zexion.

As I near him, I see he doesn't have his face shoved in his book, and I see why. Demyx is talking to him.

_Demyx!_

"Shit, about time you make it. I'm getting tired of having to do bleachers outside of gym class," I say to Demyx as I hand Zexion the cards and paper.

Demyx laughs at me then leans down and whispers something to Zexion, smiling, and causing the bookworm to blush. I don't care to know so I turn around and head back to the bleachers. I think I deserve to sit in the front for all my hard work. I snicker at my thoughts.

I spot some of my fellow band members heading out the door. Must be time to get ready for our show. I check the time on my phone, and notice we still have twenty minutes.

Do I really want to go and hang around a bunch of idiots for twenty minutes or sit here, alone, and watch the final shows? I choose the latter, as I would rather milk my time than hang around those dweebs.

It's not as if I don't like them, they are my "family," but sometimes, certain groups can get a bit stupid and annoying.

I feel my phone vibrate and see I have a text from Namine.

"_You still watching the shows?"_

"Hey stranger. Yeah, I am. You gonna join me? Or have I been here, all alone, for no reason today?" I reply with a smirk. She's really my only close friend and I joke around with her a lot. She's a really sweet girl, and an amazing artist. I wonder all the time, why she decided to be in drumline, rather than the afterschool art class. I can't complain though, since I would have never met her if she hadn't. She's one of our better mallet players, as well.

"_I'm sorry! We can watch the last show together, sound alright?:)"_

"Yeah sounds great. I'm over on the front side."

"_I'll be right there:)"_

The gym is really filled up, now. There's practically no room on the opposite wall, as almost every school is packed in over there. It's going to be hell for awards, I can already tell. Thank God, I'll be giving out awards rather than sitting, scrunched, with all the other kids. I can't imagine how we're going to do our show, though.

Usually, we would perform in our division unit, but our director decided to save the performance until awards, so we can show off to everyone, instead.

I spot Namine walk through the door and I stand and yell her name to get her attention. She spots me and makes her way over to me as I wave her on. She squeezes her way through the people and takes a seat next to me.

"Wow, it's packed!" She exclaims. Her face is a bright pink and I assume she ran here.

"Yeah, it's crazy in here. Can't wait to see how awards will look with everyone in here, even if this is the bigger of the two gyms." At my school, we have three gyms. More like two though, since one of them is just a really small basketball court that's used as the dance studio and in today's case, the warm-up room.

Namine turns to me and brings both of her hands together to her chest, "So, I hear this year, we actually have a scholastic show!" She exclaims.

Really? Scholastic is like the best of the best. And we always get the shitty shows, so why do we have a scholastic?

"You must have heard the wrong information," I reply. There's no way we'll have anyone half-decent enter our championships.

Lo and behold, as the next group comes out, the announcer declares them to be competing in the scholastic division. Maybe, they're here because they knew they couldn't win anything at the other school. Being the only one in your division makes it kind of hard _not _to win first place. I frown at the idea. Still, it takes a lot to make it to scholastic.

I hear Namine giggle next to me and I shoot her a questioning look. She brushes me off and turns her attention to the group setting up.

I stare at her for a few more seconds then turn my attention to the show and I see they're done setting up and are ready to play.

I can't help but get a little excited. They're a decent sized group, having about fifteen people in battery and twelve in pit.

This better be good.

All of the pit is lined up in front with the exception of the timpanist, who is set up right behind the xylophone on the left corner. Next to the xylophone is the bells and then nex—whoa does the vibraphone player have some spiky hair! Ahem, continuing: next to the bells is the vibes with the spiky haired kid, that oh God, he has the most gorgeous blue eyes every—hold on a second, did I just say a _guy _had gorgeous eyes? I did, didn't I? But it's the truth, and I want to see them up close—Off topic! Next to the gorgeous blue-eyed vibe player is another vibraphone then there are two marimbas, the left one having only one player, while the right one has two. Finally, all the way at the right is the auxiliary, which just looks like a big mess of chimes, cymbals, and such with a concert bass drum behind everything.

The battery gets into their respective spots. There's four snares, two tenors, four cymbals, and five bases. The bases line up in the back, smallest to biggest. The four cymbals make windows in front of the base line, while the snares and tenors line up in front of the cymbals. The two tenors are in-between the four snares, two on each side.

Everyone is wearing a rather tight leotard, ew, which is mostly black with a stripe of colour going from the left shoulder across the chest thinning to the waist. The difference between battery and pit's outfits start here.

For battery, they have what look like cuffs on their forearms, with the same colour as the stripe on their chests. Starting at their knees, there's another strip of colour, going in a circular ribbon till the end of the pant leg. For the colours, there's two. A dark blue and a pearly white. The bases are split three and two, while every other section is split evenly between their numbers.

For pit, they have a more elegant look. On their arms are ribbons crisscrossing through the sleeves. The ribbons start thin at the elbow and thicken as they near the wrists. The sleeves of the top stop about an inch or two from the wrists, leaving the ribbons to tie around the wrists, which looks rather confusing, to me. Moving on the their legs, from what I could see when they were setting up, they have more ribbon tied around their calves with bows on the outsides of their ankles. On their hips are what look like ribbons tied in a knot and glued there. For their colours, they're all an icy blue, sort of like a mix between the battery's colours, which really makes that vibraphonists' eyes a brighter blue…

Those gorgeous blue eyes that, from here, look like they lead to the ocean, that if you look into them long enough, you'll be lost in the tides forever. I realize that those same oceanic eyes, are scanning the crowd, probably looking for familiar faces, people from their school, or family, but end up on me.

He's looking right at me. Our stares could rival a statues'.

The announcer's voice snaps me back into reality as they ask if the ensemble is ready. The lone marimba player plays a little tidbit and the announcer gives them the ready.

The marimba players and the boy with those gorgeous eyes start bouncing their mallets to only a tempo they know. The xylophone player holds a rain stick and watches the tempo of the mallets. After four counts, and a silent ready from the players, the lone marimba player duts softly, but enough for the battery behind to know they're starting. There's four duts and the marimbas start playing. Behind them, the battery steps slowly.

Everything is slow and beautiful. The vibes come in, a solo, and it's the boy. As he lifts his head to make eye contact with the judges, he glances at me. His face is sad. Heartbreaking almost.

The way the vibes sound with the marimba players and rain stick is soothing. I feel I drift to sleep with this.

The bells come in and the solo turns into a duet. The timpani rolls out notes and behind them all, the battery is split between colours, each doing a pinwheel sort of pattern. The tenors are the centers of the pinwheels and turn slowly with the rest of the people stepping double-time.

As the song gains more intensity, the pinwheels join and the two tenors circle around each other. They reach hands out to one another, but never touch. They quickly bring their hands back to themselves and turn away from each other.

I don't care to see what happens next, as I make eye contact again with the boy. His expression hasn't changed, and it makes my heart skip a beat. I want to go down there and comfort him, telling him there's nothing to worry about. That everything will be alright.

I can't believe I'm thinking these things about a stranger.

As their notes slow into nothing, each player looks up and closes their eyes. There's a pause and it's silent in the room. Everyone is afraid to breath or move, thinking that any sort of movement will ruin this euphoria.

The boy quickly bends down grabbing another set of mallets, now having a set of four and the silence ends just as quickly, as the mallet players pick up into a fast-paced rhythm into something a little happier.

The boy looks up at the judges again, then his sight travels over till it meets mine again, glancing down to see what bars he must hit. The sadness is mostly gone from his face and is replaced with a sort of happiness that still holds a bit of sorrow.

I can roughly see the shapes behind them moving faster than they were at the start of the song, but can't make out what they are doing, and really, I don't care what the whole world is doing. I'm ensnared in this boy's deep blue eyes and adorable face.

The connection ends though, as he has to turn his attention back to what he's playing. I watch his movements as he hits the bars with all the mallets, causing beautiful chords to resonate through my body.

When chance allows, he glances back up at me, causing shivers to run through me. Why does he keep looking at me? Does he find me just as captivating as I find him?

The crash of cymbals causes me to snap my attention to what the battery behind them is doing. They look like a maze, the two tenors being the people lost in it, trying to find one another, but no one will let them get close to the other. They keep circling and running in front of them, cutting them off, before they can get close to each other.

However, the pit catches my attention again, as they do some crazy fast notes, which sound trippy. I could never understand how mallet players can play across the keyboard so fast or being able to play with multiple mallets, I being a tenor player.

Speaking of multiple mallets, I look back at the boy. He crouches down, as does the rest of the mallet players do, as they get softer in playing again.

He's moving his mallets with such grace as he hits the notes with speed and it amazes me. He looks like he's really into the songs as well, as his emotion is really told from his body, and that face! It's sad again as he glances back up at me. My heart gives a squeeze at this.

I look behind them to see what's going on with the battery and it seems like the tenors have seemingly given up hope, but something changes as the song picks up again and one of the tenors spots the other and makes their way over to them, only having the cymbals try to stop them. They circle around the tenor trying to make their way to the other and crash their cymbals at them.

They circle tightly around the tenor, raising their cymbals as the music quiets and slows a bit, but only picks up again as the tenor break out of the circle and finally makes their way to the other tenor. The cymbal line snapping a rather large crash at them as they walk away defeated.

The music slows dramatically as the two reunite, smiles plastered of their faces.

I look back over at the vibraphone boy and see he has the sweetest smile on his face, that looks like it got brighter when I looked back at him, or maybe that was just my imagination.

The music is slow, peaceful like the beginning, but not as lulling.

My attention is drawn back to the battery as one of the snares enters into the music as they take steps retreating behind the base line behind them with a knowing smile on their face, making me feel like I missed something important in the story. Their rolls slowly fading into nothing as the song ends.

Just as everyone thinks the show's done, the line surprises everyone with a large cymbal crash and the mallets starting a rather fast rhythm, the basses doing splits that sound so awesome.

I watch as the battery quickly moves around, the two tenors staying together the whole time. They're confidence seems like nothing could come between them.

I turn my attention back to the vibraphone boy, as he plays another solo, not quite like the one before, though. This one being a lot more upbeat and not at all sad.

The whole section is moving in time with the tempo, really getting into the song. The excitement that radiates off them gets my blood pumping and my body rocking slightly with the rhythm of the song.

The boy looks up at me again and I see he's really happy. I catch, what I can only guess is a sparkle in his eye, as his smile definitely grows when we make eye contact.

The beats of the song become more pronounced as the song hits its climax. The snares and tenors hits make a large emphasis on the song, causing the players really into the song, jerking their bodies with each hit.

The emotion of the song is amazing. Everyone in the room really enjoys it too, as they all have a smile on their face and this look of awe as they watch the masterpiece in front of them.

As I make eye contact with the boy again, you can tell he's really happy and that makes the already smile on my face reach my eyes. I like seeing that smile. It's beautiful, along with those glistening eyes, and I know right then, I want to cause that smile all on my own.

The songs ends with such finesse and emotion that everyone in the audience stands and cheers.

You can see the whole group is shocked at the reaction they got. They can't bask in it though, since they are still timed for getting off the floor.

I feel a tug on my arm and see Namine is trying to pull me through the crowd. For a second I wonder why she would be trying to drag me through hell, but remember we need to be at the band room to get changed for our performance.

As we finally make our way outside of the gym doors she raises her arms, exclaiming "That was _so freaking amazing!"_

I laugh at her enthusiasm. "Yeah, it was probably the best show we'll ever see in our lifetime!"

"Oh, I know! How can they even let us perform after such a show? We'll be such a let-down!" she says as we make our trek to the band room in the cold night air.

"So, are you going to find that guy after awards and ask him out?" she enquires as she turns to look at me while continuing to walk. I stop and look at her as I feel the blood rise to my cheeks.

"W-what are you talking about, Namine?" I say as I start walking again and trying to force my heart to slow down.

She giggles. "Oh, don't play dumb! I saw you took having eye-sex!"

"_Eye-sex?_" I yell, a little too loudly. "We were soooo not having _eye-sex!"_

She just giggles more and waves her hand at me as if she's trying to pass me off. "Yeah, sure. Whatever you say Ri."

After entering the band room, we each grab out uniforms and I leave to a corner to change.

Our theme for our show is "Playing with the Shadows," and has a haunted tone to it, so it's only fair our uniforms are fitted to that theme. Everyone wears their marching pants, beside Axel, who had to borrow a pair, since everyone but him are in the symphonic band as well; a black silken shirt that has triangles cut out of the short sleeves and bottom on the shirt, black skin tight gloves that have some fabric sewn to the wrists that poof out and were ripped along the edges so strings are hanging everywhere, and some make-up, which consists of black, thick eyeliner, black lipstick, and some weird gray that's powdered on whatever skin isn't covered up. Everyone is wearing this, except me.

I'm the odd man out because of my silver hair and pale skin. I wear a pair of white skinny jeans with a red belt looped through them, a dress shirt with rather poufy sleeves that stop just past my elbows, a dark gray waistcoat, and a red tie. I don't have to wear any make-up, thankfully, but I do have to tie my hair back with a red ribbon.

When I'm done changing I make my way towards my locker where my tenors are kept. I take out the harness then grab the drums and attach them to the harness.

Our lead snare, Larxene, is yelling at us all to hurry up and get in our warm-up spots. I sigh and quickly head to my spot, as I would rather not have her bite my ass off for holding everyone up.

After we run through warm-ups and the show, we make our way to the gym. Nerves start to get the better of me as I remember how amazing and mind-blowing the last show was and wonder how everyone will react to how shitty we compare to them.

I take a deep breath and slowly let it out, all the while almost running into Axel.

"Dude, I'm the one that can't see in front of himself," Axel jokes as he smiles and lightly punches my arm. "Bases are harder than shit to see what's in front of you with. Got that memorized?"

"Ha, yeah, I know. I was a bassist freshman year. Never making that mistake again," I reply. "Just my nerves is all. Didn't you see that final show?"

"Hmm? Naw, I was busy making sure Roxy was alright to stand, since he sprained his ankle and all." _That's probably not all you did either_, I want to reply, but don't.

Axel and Roxas are infamous for their dating relationship. Axel never being the type to keep a relationship steady, that is until I dragged him to band camp once and he met Roxas. It took months, but Roxas finally let him date him, and since then they've done everything together. Axel even joining the drumline, since Roxas was in it.

They're also known for Roxas being quite—how do I put this? _Vocal_.

"Well, they were the most amazing thing ever and there's no way we can even compete against them." I say with a groan.

We soon make our way into the gym and hear everyone cheer as the we're announced being the host drumline and after our show, awards will be starting.

If I though before was packed, this brought a whole new definition. People were scrunched together on the bleachers, sitting in the walkway, sitting on the floor, and standing in the corners. It was hot in the room from all the bodies and made me want to cool night air again.

As the floor mat (evil cursed thing) is being rolled out, I look hopefully around the room to see if I can find that boy.

After the floor is devoid of air bubbles, the pit starts to roll their instruments to their positions and battery helps move what they can. I help Namine move the marimba and xylophone into place and wish her and Roxas luck before I turn around to head to my spot.

That's when I spot the unmistakable spiky brown hair. He notices I'm looking at him and he lets this smile spread upon his face that makes my heart skip a beat. He waves at me and I smile back at him, giving a small wave before I turn back around.

Did I really make him smile that wide? My heart skips another beat at the thought and there's an unmistakable heat on my face of a telltale blush.

I really like him, and never have I before liked a boy. But, hell, I don't care. His smile and eyes are the most gorgeous things in the world. I wouldn't mind seeing those the rest of my life, even on a boy.

The announcer's voice brings me out of my revere as they ask for our ready.

Then it hits me. I realize _he_'s watching us, and I can't help but wonder if we'll do any good. I'm proud of our show, but we're definitely not scholastic quality.

I'm so caught up in my nerves that I almost miss the step off.

Larxene notices my slight hesitation and man do I know she's going to have my ass after this. At least I don't miss when to play, or I'm sure she would kill me right there in front of everyone.

I count my steps making sure not to mess up again and look up towards the judges. Even though we're not competing, it's still courteous to acknowledge them.

As I turn around I spot him again and my heart goes to my throat. I try to swallow it down and continue my steps when I notice I missed the yell.

I'm really asking for it after this.

I crabwalk to the right and the bases follow me like a tail. We round to the left and when I line up with Roxas' shoulder I start my solo. The bases disperse around me and line up a little in front of me. The cymbals pass through the windows at a diagonal.

As soon as the tambourine comes it I step to my left, heading back, then to the right making a crescent shape with the bases in tow.

The song rises to its climax then ends. We stop moving and there's silence. We all count silently eight beats then move again as the pit starts the song.

As I'm the odd man out, I was the one designated to act as the person walking through a haunted house. It makes me feel like I'm Luigi in the haunted mansion, except I have long silver hair, don't have a moustache, and instead I'm wearing more red than green.

I make my way around the snares and we end up making a triangle with me being the tip in front of them. Everyone else is placed somewhere to the sides of us, not creating anything in particular.

We all stop moving and yell "Hey!" which I definitely don't forget to yell.

I step forward a few steps as everyone moves around me making a circle. They act as the shadows in the house and make shapes, go from a square to a kind of star to just random shapes.

After the whistle everyone quickly disperses and I head to the right. We all grunt then I make my way through the "maze" twisting and turn around the corners.

The song ends and there's a laugh of a witch, which is my queue to turn and look around. The next song is a bit of a jive and I continue my way through the "house".

I love this part since the basses split and it sounds like walking bass. Bass may not be the most fun instrument to play, but damn do splits sound amazing when done right. In all honesty, when I hear good base splits, I get a little aroused.

Both Larxene and I may our way toward the middle and circle each other. We do a little call and response piece. After that we separate and I circle around more as the "shadows" chase me.

At the cymbal crashes I act as if I'm running and bumping into the "shadows."

When it leads into the next piece, I figure out the "shadows" don't really want to hurt me, but want to play. I let a light smile tug at my face for show effects.

At the snare break I run along the back and when I see the boy again I let a huge smile spread across my face.

I make my way to the center and everyone circles around again. Larxene steps through the circle as the music becomes mysterious.

I have a little break and the music becomes happy again.

Larxene and I sort of dance as we circle and the others outside circle around us making those shapes again. We smile at each other as we circle and "play" and I can tell her smile it completely forced, while mine is still there from earlier.

When the music changes I make my way out of the circle and the Larxene has another break and we all come in. After the last note, I grab my right stick with my left hand and wave "goodbye" at Larxene and the "shadows", officially ending the show.

Everyone breaks into cheers and applause. I quickly make my way towards the open area and set my tenors down so I can help pit get off the mat, so we can fold that stupid thing up.

Namine is struggling trying to get Roxas' marimba and her xylophone to go where she wants so I run over and grab the marimba for her. After we get all the equipment out of the way people start folding up the mat.

Since we start awards right after our performance we don't have time to return our instruments to the band room.

I'm excited now since, I'm a senior and I was the lead tenor I get to help hand out awards. I've always wanted to make up a cool little salute and hand an award to someone.

The announcer calls all the people that will be representing the schools into the gym and calls their school names as they walk in. People cheer when their school is called and I watch each drumline and colour guard captain make their way to their respective spots. It's then I spot the gorgeous boy following in between what I remember as one of their snares and what I assume is their colour guard captain.

My heart quickens as I wonder if I'll get to shake his hand and hand him an award. I feel like some little girl that's going to see a celebrity and get his autograph.

Larxene elbows me and tells me to stand up straight, so I do. I'd rather not get more of a beating than I know I will after this is over.

As we make our way through the awards it comes to the scholastics and it saddens me that I'm not up to give the award. When his school is called for being first (and only) place, their captain makes their way forward while one of my fellow drum mates hands them award, I get a twinge of jealousy, as if I was the one to give the award, the boy could have asked to let him take it.

My thoughts drown out the next few awards as I see someone behind him put something in his hand and as he looks at what's in his hand he smiles and I barely realize it's my turn again and they're going to call out the overall winner. My heart jumps as I hope—no, _know_, his school will be called. They were the best by far, anyway.

I was right, too! His school was called, but I see his captain goes to make their way forward to accept the award. However, he tugs his sleeve and makes his way forward, toward _me._

I can't help the smile that comes across my face as I stop and set the trophy on the ground to do my salute. He does his own salute and when I hand him the award and shake his hand I feel something rubbed against my palm and I take it.

I make my way back to my spot as everyone cheers and the announcer states that this was an amazing championship and wishes that everyone makes it home safely.

As the gym empties out, I make my way over to my tenors, holding onto whatever he gave me tightly in my hand so I don't lose it in the crowd.

As I make it to our mess of equipment I let out a sigh. How the hell am I to carry my tenors and push the marimba at the same time?

I let out a sigh and grab my harness and attach it to the drums. I hoist it up and set half of the harness on my shoulder so the drums are facing to the side of my body. I grab the side of the marimba and start to make my way behind the rest of the mallets so I can make it through the doors safely.

I barely walk outside the doors when someone shoves me, causing my tenors to slip off my shoulder and me to fall over them, cursing.

"The fuck?" I yell at the kids that pass me. I get up, brush my pants off, and grab my tenors again, setting them on my shoulder once more.

If I find a scratch or a single mark on them I'm going to hunt those punks down and, well, I don't know, but I'll make them pay! Moreover, Larxene would kill me for harming the percussion equipment.

I make it about half way to the room and Axel comes running to me.

"Want help?" he asks me, knowing full well I do.

I shove the marimba toward him and adjust the harness so I'm wearing it properly. I turn the drums up towards me and make my way to the room.

As I putting stuff away the inevitable happens.

"Riku! What the hell was that today? You totally messed up the show!" Larxene patronizes me. I was hoping I made it in late enough for her to leave, but I guess she waited around for me.

"I didn't 'totally mess up the show'. I was barely even a millisecond late. I doubt anyone noticed," I say as I put my harness behind the tenor and close the locker doors.

"How could anyone _not_ notice? Not only did you start late, you missed the first yell! I even saw you stumble a few times! You completely messed everything up," she says as she pokes at the soft spot of my shoulder repeatedly. I'm sure I'll have a nice bruise there later.

"Oh, so I forgot to say a few words. I'm sure everyone else was loud enough as it is. And I tripped over some air bubbles." Okay, so the last part was a lie. There's no way I could tell her I was so giddy over some boy that I forgot how to walk for a bit. She would bite my head off in less than that millisecond I forgot to step off in.

"Look, you're lucky we weren't competing. You no doubt would have lost us first place."

"Yeah, and then I'd really hear it.." I mutter to myself.

"What did you say?"

"I said," I raise my voice, "can I go home now?"

"Go ahead! I don't even want to see you anymore. You're making me sick."

_And you're not making _me _sick? _I almost retort, but bite my tongue instead. I don't want to have her go off on me anymore than she already has.

I head outside and spot Namine waiting on the sidewalk. I walk over to her. She turns around at my steps and smiles at me.

"So, what'd your lover have to say?" She asks me.

"Lover? What? Larxene?" I make a face and stick my tongue out.

She giggles at me and says, "No! The boy you were having eye-sex with repeatedly!"

"For the last time, _we were not having eye-sex," _I bite out, "and I haven't even talked or seen him, so I don't know what you're talking about."

"The paper! He slipped you a piece of paper when he accepted the trophy didn't he?" she raises her eyebrows at me.

My cheeks grow a bit warm. "Yeah, he did—but how do you know?" I quickly enquire.

"Lucky guess," she digs her back toe into the ground. "So?"

"Oh, I uh," I look at my hand and realize it's not there. I search my pockets, but I can't find it. "Shit! I must have dropped it!" I run back into the band room and look around my locker and with no prevail, I don't find it.

_Wait! Maybe I dropped it when those kids ran into me._

At that thought, I run out of the room toward the spot I fell, but nothing. I spent a good twenty minutes looking everywhere, retracing my steps, before finally giving up. I sit down on the curb and fold my arms, resting them on my knees, and leaning my head on my arms.

The wind could have blew it somewhere or someone could have picked it up.

_Damn it!_

I slam my fists into the curb in anger. What the hell did that paper say? Did he want to see me? Talk to me? Was it his number? A rejection? What the hell was it?

After wallowing in my self-pity I make my way to my truck. There's nothing I can do now. Everyone that's not helping clean up, or waiting for a ride home, is already gone, so it's not like I can find him now.

When I get home, I decide to take a hot shower and slip into a clean pair of boxers and go to sleep; my mind never wandering from the boy with spiky brown hair and beautiful blue eyes that if you actually looked into, you'd find yourself looking into the ocean.

It's graduation day, and I'm so glad it's the one year I don't have to be here to be playing "Pomp and Circumstance".

It's an exciting day, to see all my classmates graduating along with me, and having the band there as well.

I'll surely miss my second family. Especially Namine. She's only a sophomore, so she still has a few years to bask in the high school life before being thrown out into the real world.

If only that boy could be here as well.

I never did find out what that paper said. There's not a night I don't dream about him, or a day I don't wish I could share with him. I wonder if he ever thinks of me. If he thinks I stood him up.

When my name is called for me to get my diploma I hear the band cheer behind me and my family and friends up in the stands, making me smile at the appreciation.

When the ceremony is over we all make our way to the parking lot to meet with our friends and family. I say goodbye to a few people I see and wish them luck in life when I hear my name being called. I look into the crowd but don't see who's calling.

Maybe I'm just hearing things.

I start to head towards my truck were my family is probably waiting for me when I hear my name again, but closer.

I turn around and my heart stops.

_It's him! He's here! But how?_

It's the boy from championships. He runs up to me and stops in front of me trying to catch his breath. He then does the only thing that could truly stop the world.

He smiles at me.

"Hah…I never…thought I'd catch up to you!" He breaths out. His face is red and it's the cutest thing in the world.

"R-riku, right? Ah, it's me, the kid from percussion championships."

"Yeah, I remember you. I-I'm sorry I didn't, uh, do whatever that paper said," I say. Honestly, I really don't know what to say. I just want to hug him and never let go.

But that might seem weird and scare him off and I definitely don't want to scare him off.

"Oh! The paper. Uh, yeah. It's okay I guess…You were probably busy putting everything away or something." He's blushing more and I can tell he's nervous.

I scratch my neck. "Well, you see. I kind of dropped it before I got the chance to see what it said…."

"So, you didn't just, brush me off?" he looks at me, knitting his eyebrows together.

"No!" I quickly retort, "God no! I never meant to! Honestly!"

He's laughing now. I love his laugh. Hell I love everything about him.

"Oh, good! I thought you didn't like me or something. I was worried."

I'm surprised. "You were worried?" I ask.

He lets out a nervous laugh and brings a hand up to scratch his cheek. "Well yeah. I really wanted to see you and get to know you…" He speaks this last sentence so softly I have to strain my ear to hear him.

As my mind processes this, my heart skips a beat and my breath hitches.

_He wanted to see and get to know me! _

"I want to get to know you too," I say, smiling at him. He looks up at me, shock written all over his face. Next thing I know, I have my arms full of—

"I don't even know your name," I say into his hair, as it attacks my face.

He lets out another laugh that's its own music to my ears. "It's Sora," he says, as he lifts his head from my shoulder and looks at me.

"I love when you smile," I say to myself.

He giggles, which causes my own smile to widen. "I love it when you smile too," he whispers to me. It sends shivers up my spine and before I realize it, my lips are touching his, but he's not pulling away. His grip tightens on me and I kiss him deeper. His lips are so soft. I could kiss him forever.

As we part I open my eyes to look at him. He's gorgeous. He giggles to himself and bites his lips. There's a blush across his face and it sends butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

I didn't care what else was going on, I was happy in my own little world with Sora.

_Sora. The beautiful blue eyed boy. My beautiful blue eyed boy, now._

As we made our way to my car, hand in hand, neither one of us noticed the blonde haired girl retreating into the crowd behind her, with a knowing smile on her face.

* * *

**A/N: **Jjiofaij YAY!

I totally bullshitted Riku's show and got lazy coming up with stuff to fill parts, so some parts go quicker than the song. However, I based a lot of the show for Sora from my own drumline show this year, especially the pinwheel part, since it was my favorite.

For the songs, the two that Sora plays are "Marching Season": . ?item=01CS9 and "Hypernova": . ?item=0709 . For Riku's show they are "Hocus Pocus", "Spooky", "Jitters", and "Beyond the Stars", which they can all be found in one little file: . ?item=WDL008

Also as a side note: if you do listen to the songs and read, the pause in "Marching Season" is a lot longer for Sora's show and in my head, the battery has little parts, although it's originally written for just pit.


End file.
